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  • And Cheese, 2013
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  • INSTAGRAM
Head In The Sand, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Bent Over Backwards, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Palm Hugger, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Hairy Pine, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Hang Loose, 21x24" C-Print, 2014 Umbrella Girl, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Deuces, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 The Tilley Man, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Love Yourself, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 How Do I Live Without You, 21x24" C-Print, 2014 The Joint, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Hole in the Rock, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Fallen Climber, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Like A Rock, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Foul Up From Gallup, 21x24" C-Print, 2014 Human Ball, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Hot, Wet, and Hard, 21x24" C-Print, 2014 Dynasty Rest Stop, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Looking Down on the World, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Jackass, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Bye Bye Bye, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Lava Tube, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Benched Over, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Your Body is a Wonderland, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Sandy's Pits, 21x24" C-Print, 2014 Human Pyramid, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Wedding, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Spread Eagle, 21x24" C-Print, 2013 Epic Death, 21x24" C-Print, 2013

And Cheese!
2013 - 2014

Something between the staged and the real where you look at a series of images and you see something that looks staged but then there's something that looks real as well. I have always liked the rhetorical question, 'if you can't tell the difference then what does it matter?' as well as the saying, 'seeing is believing.' Take "reality" TV with reality bunny-eared because it isn't really real but it could be, parts of it, maybe.

There is something absolutely fascinating about not knowing if it was chance to come across these people and these unique and often strange gestures or if they were staged. What I'm really trying to articulate is, finding things out of the ordinary in the everyday and YET having them seem just normal BUT absurd at same time.

And Cheese is a series of images that started in China, where it is also common practice to smile, wave at the camera, and appear to be happy during a photographic opportunity. There I saw a variety of things that were extraordinary and absurd to my North American perspective, and realized how I can be charmed by the notion that this, this spectacle, this beautiful, funny moment is just part of the everyday there. And after that I started seeing these moments everywhere.

So smile and say cheese in whichever way you please.

all work © brendan george ko, 2008 - 2022